Paterson couldn't fire Teitelbaum, even if he wanted to

A column in today’s New York Post suggested that Gov. David Paterson would seek to terminate Commission on Public Integrity Executive Director Herbert Teitelbaum if it turns out that he tried to run interference for former Gov. Eliot Spitzer during the commission’s investigation of the travel records scandal, an allegation made by former Spitzer Commissions Director Darren Dopp in a New York Times story that ran Saturday.

Paterson couldn’t fire Teitelbaum directly, according to statute. Staffing decisions of the Commission on Public Integrity are decided by the Commission’s 13 members.

The Governor appoints the chair and six additional members and no more than four of the Governor’s seven appointees can belong to the same political party. When the commission was created last year, Spitzer appointed his seven, including two holdovers from the Pataki administration, James King and Robert Giuffra.

Paterson doesn’t have the power to remove these commission members, unless there is “cause”, which is defined in Executive Law Section 94 (7):

“Members of the commission may be removed by the governor for substantial neglect of duty, gross misconduct in office, inability to discharge the powers or duties of office or violation of this section, after written notice and opportunity for a reply.”

Robert Giuffra’s term expires in October of this year, and Paterson will have the opportunity to make his own appointment to the commission.

The commission also decides whether to issue a “notice of probable cause”, which is similar to an indictment, which lists the charges against an individual. The commission also approves of settlements with individuals who are being investigated by the Commission.

So ultimately any decisions on how to move forward with the travel records scandal investigation are at the discretion of the commission, not Teitelbaum. If this war will be fought in court of public opinion, the outrage factor may not resonate with commission members as much as it does on Paterson and other elected officials who may be caught in the whirlpool of this ongoing drama, which has outlasted both of the key characters involved.